We Intertwined
by Imogen Bradford
Summary: Rumors of the Dark Lord's Return are flying left and right. But within the walls of Hogwarts, things are pretty normal for Avalon. Except for a certain girl who has suddenly fallen into her life. R/R please? Rated T for...well, read it and find out!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _Hello, fan fiction community! This is my first real fic, and I've been sitting on the idea for a while. _

_It takes place from Order of the Phoenix and on to...well, I haven't decided where I want it to end yet. I have a lot of ideas that stretch all the way to Deathly Hallows, so we'll see. I'll also be trying to adhere to canon as strictly as possible :)_

_Reviews are very appreciated! I want to get better as I go along._

_And without further ado, I thank you for clicking on my story, and hope you enjoy the ride!_

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER (obviously). J.K. ROWLING HAS THAT GLORIOUS RIGHT.**

* * *

><p>I nervously sat at a table in the library, alternating between checking my watch and looking back at the note scrawled on a piece of parchment that I had received yesterday from Professor Grubbly-Plank:<p>

_Dear Ms. Urie,_

_I have a student in my fourth-year class who is falling behind quite a bit. It would be very much appreciated if you would tutor her. You will receive extra credit._

_Please be in the library at 6:00 on Wednesday evening, and she will meet you there. -P. W. Grubbly-Plank_

After reading over the note for what must have been the hundredth time, my head snapped back to my watch. 5:58. I kept an eye on the doorway, as a constant stream of what-ifs made its way though my head. _What if I misread the note, and we were supposed to meet somewhere else?_ My eyes went back to make sure that it definitely said "library." _What if my watch is wrong? What if I forgot what day it is? What if she's already here, sitting alone at another table, and she thinks that I stood her up? What if this girl just doesn't show up? What if she does show up, and doesn't like me? What if she doesn't like me already and that's why she isn't showing up? What if she died on the way here?_

I stopped myself and took a deep breath. This was getting ridiculous...she wasn't even late yet. It wasn't her fault that I was anxious about having to meet new people. It wasn't her fault that I wasn't thinking all of these things because I was scared that she wouldn't show up, but because I was secretly _hoping_ that she wouldn't. As always, I tried to rationalize the way I was thinking. _There are plenty of Ravenclaws who would make much better tutors, and I have a mountain of homework!_

I sighed. Who was I kidding? I was just entirely sure that it was going to be awkward. It always was.

"Excuse me?" The voice jerked me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see a pretty, short-haired Hufflepuff girl standing across the table from me. "Are you…" She looked down at a scrap of parchment, "Avalon Urie?"

"Oh, yeah," I blushed. It looked like she wasn't going to save me from this experience after all. I didn't really know what to say next, but she didn't seem to notice.

"I'm Ivy Lewis. Professor Grubbly-Plank said you would tutor me?"

"Oh, yeah." Was that all I could come up with? I cleared my throat, and motioned to the other chair at the table. "Do you want to, um, sit down?"

"Sure." She did so, and looked at me. As if she was expecting me to take it from there. As if she was expecting me to know what to do. I looked back at her, and found that she had extremely beautiful eyes. Green, but brown, too. I looked way.

"Er…" I bit my lip. "So, what can I help you with?"

"Well, right now we're learning about knarls." She pulled out a notebook. "But I don't get it at all. Isn't it just a hedgehog?"

Direct questions. I could handle direct questions. "They look almost the same, but you can tell the difference in their behavior." She waited for me to continue. "If you set out food in front of each of them, a hedgehog will come over and eat it. A knarl will assume that you're trying to poison it, and go ballistic."

"So it's a _paranoid_ hedgehog?" She looked amused. I was surprised to feel myself smiling.

"Yeah, pretty much." This was getting a bit easier now that she was actually here. She seemed nice enough, and she wasn't as hard to talk to as I had expected. I felt silly; it always happened this way. There was always the build-up, but then it wasn't a big deal. "So what else do you need help with?"

We launched into a discussion of the proper ways to care for a knarl, and how to avoid them destroying your garden. As we talked, I became more at ease. I realized that Ivy was rather funny, and really did want to learn what I had to teach. I liked her.

* * *

><p>An hour and a half later I left the library, proud of myself. Not only had I survived my time with Ivy Lewis, but I had even started to enjoy myself around her. There was something about her-I couldn't put my finger on it-but I felt like I wanted to get to know her better. I was actually excited for the next time I would see her.<p>

I traipsed up to Gryffindor tower, and had barely gotten both feet through the portrait hole when I was scooped up into a bone-crushing hug.

"Oh, you poor dear!" said the voice of Lee Jordan in mock concern. "I thought you would never return!"

"Lee, I can't breathe…" I said, trying to struggle out of his grip.

He dropped me on the common room floor. "Whatever happened to 'it will only take a little while, I'll be back by the time you're done with dinner'?" He grinned, evidently only pretending to scold me. "Poor old me, all alone up here while you were off being a book worm, and all of my other friends were on the Quidditch pitch…" He flopped over-dramatically into an arm chair, and I sat next to him.

"You know I'm not a book worm," I replied. "And don't pretend that you didn't just get back from the Great Hall five minutes ago."

"Found me out, have you?" He smiled. "So, how did it go? As dreadful as you made it out to be?"

I shook my head. "She was really nice. We're going to meet up again on Friday."

"Awww," he pat me on the head. "Little Avsie is making friends!" I shot him an indignant look, and he burst into laughter. "Come on, when is the last time you hung out with someone new? I can't help but feel like you're so grown up now."

I laughed a little too. Lee and the twins always treated me as if I was so young, even if I was only a year behind them. "I wouldn't say that we're friends yet. We've only had one conversation…and about knarls, at that." I shrugged.

"Oh, let me hold out some hope that you'll be a social butterfly." He got a ridiculous look on his face, as if he was praying, but then pretended to be serious again. "Just promise that you won't forget all of us when you have these amazing new friends, alright?"

"How could I forget?" I laughed. Honestly, even though I only had a few, my friends were the best in the world.

Lee looked pleased. "Good." He nodded. "So, now that I've put my fears about your well-being to rest, I have some business to attend to." He smiled goodbye and stood up, then strolled out of the common room.

I watched him leave, and then reached into my bag and pulled out my Defense Against the Dark Arts text book. What a joke. I had had two classes with Umbridge so far, and both had been pure hell. But I figured that they would be even more hellish if I didn't do my homework, so I opened the sorry excuse for a book and attempted to read.

After a few minutes, of course, I wasn't taking in any of it. I found my eyes sliding over the same line, repetitively; while I let my mind wander into another land of what-ifs…_What if Ivy did like me, just a little? _


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** _Chapter two! And in the same day! (Don't get used to it, I only had this pre-written) However, Chapter 3 is in the works, and I will try to update as often as I can._

_Not much else to say, except that in the last A/N I forgot to mention that its rated T mostly because I'm paranoid, and want to do some more "mature" stuff later on. And some people think that Girl/Girl is "inappropriate." *rolls eyes*_

_Anyway, enjoy!_

* * *

><p>This time, I was running late.<p>

I silently cursed all of the forces that had made me fall asleep in the common room as I raced to the library at 6:15. _All chances of being friends, ended._ I thought bitterly. When I hurdled around the corner and through the door, I was entirely prepared to see that Ivy wasn't there, as I was sure that she had plenty of better things to be doing with her Friday night than waiting around for some socially-awkward sixth year.

I stopped, panting, and scanned the room. Once again, she had surprised me. I spotted her sitting at a small table near one of the high windows, with her nose buried in a book. She had reading glasses, and in my happiness at finding that she was there, I couldn't help thinking of how cute they made her look.

I shook my head, wondering where that had come from, before walking over and pulling up a chair across from her.

She looked up from her book, and I felt guilty at the relieved smile that she gave me. "I was starting to think that you forgot."

"Of course not!" I said, still trying to catch my breath. "I just…" I paused, but decided to be honest. "I fell asleep after my last class."

This time she gave me a real smile. The first of many times when I would come to appreciate how gorgeous her smile was. "I guess we all need our beauty sleep, don't we?"

"Or we stay up until three A.M. finishing a Transfiguration essay." I smiled back, and prayed that she couldn't tell that I was blushing. I was incredibly grateful that she wasn't angry with me. I found myself wanting to make her happy.

"So," I said hastily, realizing a few seconds too late that I had been staring at her, and wanting to change the subject. "What book are you reading?"

She blinked, startled and embarrassed. "Oh, um…"

My mind started racing. _Dammit. I did do something. I made her feel awkward. She thinks I'm weird. You screwed this up, Av, you screwed up!_

She showed me the cover of her book. _To Love a Goblin: My Own Quest for the Freedom of Others. _She went very red. "It's dorky, I know. We were just learning about the Goblin Revolution in History of Magic, and…" She trailed off, under the impression that I now thought less of her.

"No, no, that's cool," I tried to recover the conversation. "So you like History of Magic, then?"

She nodded, evidently trying to go along with an attempt to making this normal. Where had all of the comfort of two days ago gone? "It's my favorite subject. Professor Binns isn't…the most exciting…but, the actual stories are amazing. I love it."

I nodded. Personally, history was just a jumble of names and dates to me (and I had dropped the class at my first opportunity) but I didn't feel like now was the best time to bring that up. Besides, a very small voice that I had never really heard before was telling me that perhaps Ivy could make history, or anything, interesting. I shut it up, slightly confused.

She didn't seem to notice a thing, but continued on. "What's your favorite? Besides Care of Magical Creatures, of course."

I swallowed my embarrassment. "Astronomy. It's going to sound corny, but I've always loved the night sky. I like feeling so small and insignificant in comparison to everything else that's out there. It's sort of comforting. In a really weird way."

"I get it." She laughed. "Maybe you could tutor me in that as well. Memorizing all of those star charts…"

I laughed at that, too. I was starting to feel comfortable again, now that we were slipping back into the easy exchange that we had found at our last meeting. "You're on your own there. I can draw them, but explaining them? Impossible. Besides," I remembered what we were actually supposed to be doing. "We already have enough Magical Creatures to worry about."

"This is true." I could tell that she had also, momentarily, forgotten what we were there for. She dug around in her bag and found her notebook, then opened it and flipped to the page on knarls that we had started Wednesday. I noticed that she had added her own little doodle of a hedgehog going mad at the bottom of the page, and I giggled.

"Very nice," I commented, pointing to it.

"Why thank you. It's my masterpiece." She giggled too.

"May I?" I asked, indicating that I wanted to add my own touch to the drawing.

She handed me a quill. "You certainly may."

I took the notebook and leaned over it, so that she wouldn't be able to see what I was doing. I handed it back to her, and she laughed. I had drawn an extremely upset child, watching as the knarl went about on its rampage.

"Why is this kid so sad?" She demanded, still grinning. "Aren't they amused by the funny hedgehog?"

"Oh, no," I shook my head, trying to be as serious as I could while trying not to laugh. "They know that their parents won't believe them when they say that a knarl ruined the garden, not them." I shook my head dramatically. "It happened to me many a time."

"You poor thing," she looked at me with wide eyes, also attempting to contain her laughter. "I vow that when I have children, I will always believe their knarl stories. Even if I have witnessed them tearing apart the garden myself." She held up the drawing. "I would never want to make a child this distraught!"

We both dissolved into giggles, but stopped abruptly as the librarian, Madame Pince, shot us a venomous look. Evidently we had been getting too loud.

I cleared my throat, and tried to look as mature and responsible as I could, while I knew that her beady eyes were still upon us. "Anyway, would you like me to quiz you?"

"That would be lovely." She said it with a businesslike air, but I could tell that she was still amused.

I began asking questions from her notes, and as we continued on through the evening, we even began on the next creature that she would be learning about: crups. Before we had even fully realized where the time had gone, the library was closing and we had to go back to our dormitories.

I helped Ivy gather up her things and put them back in her bag before we walked out together.

"Thank you, for all of this." She said.

"It's no problem," I replied. "Really. I…I like hanging out with you. Like this."

She smiled. "Me too. See you Monday?"

"Definitely."

And with that, she turned and made her way down the corridor, towards the Hufflepuff common room near the kitchens. I waited for her to be out of sight before going in the other direction to Gryffindor tower. As I walked, I began hoping that time would speed up between then and Monday night…I didn't want wait before seeing her again.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: **_Not one, not two, but three chapters in one day! This is a freak occurrence, I swear._

_Anyway, I hope that you like reading the story so far as much as I like writing it; and as always, I hope you enjoy this chapter! _

_(And if you feel so inclined, I would love some reviews :))_

* * *

><p>I woke up the next morning to see that the sun was making a valiant effort to cut through the fog and into my window. Since the beginning of the summer, things had been unnaturally dreary, which I found ominous. I shivered, despite the three blankets piled on top of me, and was reminded again of the things that had happened at the end of the previous school year.<p>

I believed Harry Potter's story that You-Know-Who had returned. I wasn't too close with him, but he was in my house—not to mention that Fred and George were convinced that he was neither insane nor a liar, and I trusted them. On top of that, I could find no other logical explanation for why Cedric would have died that night. It wasn't an accident. As much as I didn't want to think about the possibility of a second wizarding war, I also didn't want to be the fool that laughed at the idea of it. It could be a deadly mistake.

The summer following had been nerve-wracking. My brother, who had been a first year at the time, was terrified. I was, too, but I was also determined not to show it. And as if it didn't matter that we were both traumatized already, we came home to our parents fighting worse than ever. On top of the usual crap, there was now the added tension of a possible war. Making matters worse, Dad sided with Harry, while Mom simply refused to believe that You-Know-Who could be back. Dad said it was because she was a Muggle, and couldn't understand the whole situation. Mom said that she understood perfectly, and that Dad needed to stop believing every word that came out of Dumbledore's mouth. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time out of the house. I didn't want to hear it.

If Katie hadn't lived down the street, I probably would have gone mad within the first couple of weeks. Fred and George didn't really respond to my letters, and Lee was always too busy to travel halfway across the country. But Katie was always there. It was nice to know that I could run over and knock on her back door, and that there would never be a bad time.

We had been friends for as long as either of us could remember, and we were thrilled when we both were put into Gryffindor on our first night at Hogwarts. We had been so nervous about being separated, and I don't think I'll ever forget how anxious she looked before I was sorted, and how happy she looked after. I had actually met the Weasleys through her, after she joined the Quidditch team four years ago.

My train of thought was derailed by my cat, Cinnamon, who jumped on my chest in her usual good-morning greeting. I shifted her onto my lap and sat up, then looked around the dorm to see that I was the first one awake, as usual. I climbed out of bed and dressed, before making my way down to the common room. A few people were awake there, but I kept walking, as my stomach demanded that I go to the Great Hall for breakfast.

As I continued down the corridor, I was excited to see that there was still a hint of sunlight coming through the windows. No matter how faint, it was nice to see that such a thing still existed after months of gloom. Perhaps this was finally a good sign, after my disappointing return to Hogwarts. I smiled to myself, letting my mind wander again.

To be fair, I wasn't sure if "disappointing" was the right word. As the holidays drew to a close, I hadn't known what to expect when I came back to the castle.

I had wanted to see my friends again. A wish that had been granted. After an entire summer apart, it was wonderful to be back on the Hogwarts Express, locked up in a compartment for a few hours with Lee, Fred, and George. Of course, most of the time had been spent with Lee and me talking about our summers, while the twins seemed rather mum about where they had been. This seemed odd, as they usually came back with a million new stories of pranks and hi-jinks; and every time I tried to pursue the subject, they quickly redirected the conversation. I felt quite left-out from it all, and as happy as I was to have them back, it was mixed with a bitterness that I was out of the loop. As the school year had gotten underway, I tried to forget about it, and just have a good time when they were around. It wasn't too hard, since they had tons of new joke shop items to test and show off, and I often just let myself get caught up in the fun of it all. However, there were still those dark moments, usually late at night after another one of our awkward summer-related conversations, when I would find that I was, truly, a bit upset...and hurt.

I didn't have too much time to dwell on it, though. As a sixth year, I was finding that my homework was piling up at an alarming rate, as the classes themselves only became harder. Most of it was enjoyable. After my O.W.L.s, I had thankfully been able to drop all of the classes that I wasn't so enthusiastic about. Despite struggling through non-verbal spells, I was loving the challenge of the advanced magic that we had begun to learn in Charms and Transfiguration. These had been two of my favorite courses since first year, and continued to be such. Astronomy, as always, was wonderful. The real problem was that my two other classes had come up extremely short of being what I would have hoped.

The first to fall flat was Care of Magical Creatures. I had arrived at my first lesson to find that Hagrid would be gone for some undetermined amount of time, and in his place would be Professor Grubbly-Plank. To be clear, I love magical creatures. And there's really nothing wrong with Grubbly-Plank—she's a good teacher, and I don't mind her. But it's just not the same without Hagrid. Maybe I'm a masochist, but I honestly enjoyed the element of surprise in each class, and wondering just how dangerous or illegal the next lesson's creature would be. I had brought this point up once to the twins, and they still teased me about how they "couldn't believe that shy little Av could have such an adventurous side! Maybe she's a real Gryffindor after all!" Each time this occurred, whichever one had said it would be swiftly smacked with whatever I was holding.

The second class to disappoint was Defense against the Dar Arts.

Once again, I'm not sure if "disappointing" is an accurate word to describe the situation. Maybe "torture," "child abuse," or perhaps "bull-shit" would be helpful towards a better understanding of what was going on.

This year, the Ministry of Magic decided that Dolores Umbridge would make a good Professor. As on so many other occasions, they had been wrong. I could probably get a better education from a real toad. And I didn't appreciate being treated like a five year old every time I was in her presence. Not to mention that something about her gave me the feeling that she was, well, evil. No one could believe that someone so inept could possibly be a teacher. Of course, she was also so oddly intimidating that no one dared to go against her. Except Harry Potter, of course. It was now common knowledge that he had lost his temper with her quite a few times, and I still wasn't sure if I admired him for it, or thought that he was an idiot.

As I passed through the door of the Great Hall, I saw that Umbridge was at the staff table, wearing another of her gag-inducing pink cardigans. I rolled my eyes and headed over to the Gryffindor table, where I could see a couple of red- heads who surely wouldn't mind if I sat with them for breakfast.

Halfway there, just as I was passing the Hufflepuff table, I caught a movement in the corner of my eye, and I turned my head to see that Ivy was waving at someone…_me?_ I looked around, which she seemed to find very funny, and I realized that there was no one else's attention that she was trying to attract. I smiled awkwardly and waved back, before making a beeline to my seat between Fred and George. A few seconds later, I chanced a glance back and saw that she was still looking at me. I blushed, and she gave a small laugh before turning back to the conversation she had been having with the girl sitting next to her.

The twins had seen the entire incident.

"Is that your infamous new study buddy?" George asked, grinning.

"You'll have to introduce us," Fred added, also looking amused at my still-red face. "It would be interesting to meet someone who is just as good at embarrassing you as we are."

"I am _not_ embarrassed." I protested, but they knew I was lying. I reached for the nearest plate and loaded it with toast, figuring that maybe if I ignored them for long enough, they would change the subject. It worked, and a few minutes later we were having another animated discussion about possible new items for their joke shop.

Now I could only hope that no one could hear how fast my heart was still beating, or paid any attention as I watched her leave the Hall. And maybe I was imagining things, but I could swear that she looked back at me, just before she went through the doors, and gave me another one of those magical smiles.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: **_Like the last chapter, this is mostly just some character exposition of Avalon. I enjoyed writing it, though, so I hope its alright. Also, if you've read this far, thank you!_

* * *

><p>I didn't see her for the rest of the weekend. This was just as well, considering that I had an outrageous amount of homework, and didn't need any more distractions. I didn't have time to think about the confused jumble of emotions that I had after my encounter with Ivy on Saturday morning.<p>

After breakfast, I made my way back up to the common room, hoping to get started on my most recent assignment for Charms. This didn't go as planned, however, when I ended up having to save my brother from Fred and George's experiments with Skeiving Snack Boxes.

"I keep telling you, he's not a guinea pig!" I shot over my shoulder to the twins as I tried to control Spencer's bloody nose.

"Oh, come on," Fred said. "You know we're not going to give him anything that would cause lasting damage."

"Have him eat this," George added, handing me a small purple candy. "It will make it stop."

I gave him a skeptical look, but he shrugged. "Would I lie to you?"

I rolled my eyes, and handed the candy to my brother. The nose bleed stopped the instant he had swallowed it, and I sighed, relieved. "Remember how I told you not to hang out with my friends?" I asked sternly. "This is what happens. They're idiots, and you'll always end up in some sort of trouble."

"But they paid me!" Spencer protested. He absolutely hated it when I interfered with anything he was doing. Even if it was for his own good. Before I could reprimand him anymore, he made his escape over to a group of friends.

I raised my eyebrows, and rounded on the twins. "You actually paid _my __brother?_ I never get paid for any of the mad things that you coerce me into!"

I acted upset, but honestly, seeing as no one was hurt, it wasn't so much of a big deal. And I wasn't actually too concerned about whatever tests they wanted to do on Spencer, as long as they asked first.

Fred grinned, sensing that I wasn't angry, and that he could get away with making a joke of the whole thing. "Do we really have to buy your friendship now, Av?" He paused, then added an afterthought. "Besides, you get to sample the fun stuff anyway."

"You think that being the taste-tester for Puking Pastilles is fun?" I let myself have a laugh. "You really are stranger than I thought."

"At least we didn't give you Fainting Fancies," George relied. "We're still trying to figure out how to fix the lingering disorientation that some our other…erm…subjects…have experienced." His eye wandered over to a group of first years across the common room.

I lightly smacked both of them. "You're still testing on first years?"

They played innocent. "Where else are we to find such a cheerful, willing control group?" Fred asked.

George continued, "And they're much more cooperative than some of the _other_ people we've asked for help." He eyed me this time.

"Fine," I shook my head. "Fine. Just don't let me find out that you're giving them anything too dangerous."

"You sound like Hermione."

Hermione Granger, the new fifth-year prefect, had been telling the twins off on an almost nightly basis for trying to test and sell their joke shop items. The look on their faces when she threatened to write their mother had been priceless, and was one of the few things that I had to tease _them_ about.

"Seriously, I'll tell your mum!" I imitated her, grinning, and Fred looked torn between the urge to laugh and being very offended that I had brought it up.

George changed the subject entirely. "We have Quidditch practice soon, do you want to come down with us and watch?"

I looked out the window…it was still sunny.

"Sure. Let me just grab my bag."

I spent the remainder of the morning and part of the afternoon sitting in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, trying to both do my homework and watch practice at the same time. I wasn't getting very far in my assignments, and was already dreading Sunday, when I would probably have to shut myself in the dormitory just to get enough peace to actually finish anything.

The team was flying relatively well today; although things hadn't been quite the same since Oliver Wood graduated. And the twin's brother, Ron, definitely wasn't the best Keeper in the world. Luckily, there was enough talent in the rest of the team to make up for it. Katie, Alicia, and Angelina worked together better than any other Chasers at the school. It looked more like they were dancing than playing a sport, and I wouldn't be shocked to find out that they communicated telepathically. There never seemed to be a moment when they weren't perfectly synchronized. Fred and George were, to borrow a phrase, like a pair of human Bludgers themselves. They were brilliant. And then of course, there was Harry Potter. Before anything else he had done, many Gryffindors would agree that Harry's achievements as Seeker were his finest. The victory of his first match was legendary. And thanks to him, we had won the Quidditch Cup three years in a row. It was quite an honor, and felt wonderful to have the bragging rights.

As for my own personal experiences with Quidditch, I had realized long ago that it was best if I watched the game, but didn't play. I had gone with Katie in our second year to Chaser try-outs, but I was more there to cheer her on. As expected, when it was her turn, she flew beautifully, and made the team, while I was too shy to even attempt a turn, and chickened out before Wood could call my name. I guess I regretted it sometimes, since it really did look fun…but I was also sure that Gryffindor couldn't have found better players anywhere, and I wouldn't want to replace any of them.

Practice ended at around two o'clock, and I followed as the team trooped up to the castle for a late lunch. After a quick meal of crisps and a turkey sandwich, I went back up to the common room to see if I could finish my homework.

It only took a few minutes, however, before I realized that this simply wasn't going to happen. It was complete chaos, since everyone, as per usual, had decided that it was Saturday, and they could just have fun today and do work tomorrow. I continued on a futile attempt at my essay for another five minutes, before sighing, packing my bag, and heading up to the dormitory, where I knew it would be quiet.

I spent the rest of the weekend there, as I had expected, emerging only for meals. Katie ended up joining me on Sunday, and we tackled our Defense Against the Dark Arts assignment together by reading the otherwise boring chapter in the most ridiculous voices that we could come up with. It was almost just has hard to take in the material between giggles as it was when I was bored out of my mind, but at least we both had a good time.

By the end of that night (which went on to be quite late, owing to my Transfiguration essay), I was still just as exhausted as I had been during the school week. I hadn't thought about Ivy Lewis or what had happened in the Great Hall. But just as I started to fall asleep, I smiled, remembering that I would be seeing her again the following evening. Despite how embarrassed I had been at breakfast on Saturday, and despite the fact that I couldn't really spare any time the next day with pile of homework that I still had to do, I was glad that we would be spending at least an hour together. My last thoughts as I drifted off were both confused and happy, and even though part of me wondered why I was so excited by her, there was another, deeper part that already knew…even if I wasn't ready to admit it.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: **_I had a ton of fun with this chapter, despite having writer's block in the beginning. The imagination part is a bit of a throwback to _Annie on My Mind_, which was something that I really wanted to do. _

_I'm really enjoying writing this, and it would be great to know if any of you are enjoying reading it! Leave a review and brighten my day? :)_

* * *

><p>I made sure that I would be at the library early on Monday night, but when I arrived, it was only to find that a load of dung bombs had been set off in a student's bag, and thus the library would be closed for the night. I decided to just wait outside for Ivy to show up, and then we could figure out what to do from there. I assumed that she still needed tutoring, and would perhaps want to go somewhere else and do that . For some reason, it was sad to remember that the only reason I would be seeing her was purely academic. I felt like our time together should be about more than that. I shook my head, banishing these thoughts. <em>I've seen her twice. Why does this matter so much? Its one thing to like a new friend, but why am I so…desperate? <em>I silently pondered this, and argued with myself, as I sat on the stone floor, waiting.

It wasn't too long before I saw her round the corner, and give me a questioning look before coming over. As she approached, I stood up (and tried as hard as I could to stop all of the thoughts that I had been grappling with only a few seconds before). She waited until she had gotten to me before she spoke.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"A bunch of dung bombs went off in there," I said, nodding to the door. "I expect that we won't be allowed back in again until Filch finishes cleaning up the mess for his girlfriend."

"You believe that story?" Ivy looked incredulous, but amused. About half of the school was convinced that Filch and Madame Pince were involved in a secret love affair.

"You know it's true." I replied, smirking.

"I'd rather not think about it. They're both gross, and imagining them together…" She exaggerated a shudder. I giggled.

"Anyway," she continued. "Where should we go?"

My heart leapt. She still wanted to see me. "You still want to…?" Hang out? Study? Spare some time for me? I couldn't find a way to end the sentence that sounded right, but she didn't wait for me to find one.

"Only if you do."

"Of course!" I blushed. Honestly, how desperate was I? Sh probably thought that I was the loneliest person on earth. "I mean, yeah…that sounds good." I didn't look at her, and hoped that she didn't find me overly enthusiastic.

"What about finding an empty classroom?" Her voice didn't sound as if she was put off, and I took that as a sign that it would be safe to look up. "That's pretty much the only place that I can think of right now."

"That would be fine," I replied, and we set off down the hall together. There was something thrilling about the idea of hanging out with Ivy, completely alone, and I was determined to not to mess it up. I wanted her to like me. (Once again, I a part of me was ashamed of how desperate I sounded.)

"So, um, anything exciting happen today?" I asked, as we entered the first room that we found. I lit the torches with my wand, and we sat down on top of a couple of the old desks.

"Besides seeing you" –my heart skipped a beat. I hoped she wasn't joking—"not really anything." She shrugged. "Except trying to learn Silencing Charms while Umbridge was buzzing around the room. That was difficult."

"Trying to learn anything while Umbridge is buzzing around the room is difficult," I replied, to which she gave a snort of laughter. "She was inspecting Flitwick today, then?"

Umbridge had been appointed "High Inquisitor" at the beginning of the month, and since then she had been sitting in on other teacher's classes to "inspect their performance." It was awful, but I counted myself lucky that I only had the misfortune of being present for one of these reviews, in my last Astronomy class.

Ivy nodded, in answer to my question. "It's obnoxious, isn't it? Telling the worst teacher that she is the one who can go in and judge other teachers?" She rolled her eyes.

"Tell me about it," I agreed. "Can you believe that woman?"

"Toad, you mean," Ivy replied, and I burst into laughter.

"So you've also spotted her for what she really is?" I asked, and she began laughing now, too.

"It's not so hard, is it? Especially with that huge fly on top of her head."

"You mean her hair bow?" I asked, still chortling.

"No, it's definitely a fly," she said, trying to keep a straight face. "I keep expecting her tongue to snap out and eat it." We both laughed harder at this image.

"What, and those atrocious cardigans cover up her warts?"

"Of course!"

It was a moment before we got a hold of ourselves again. Finally, I took a deep breath, and shook my head.

"But seriously, she's evil. I wouldn't want to be on her bad side…you probably didn't hear about what happened to Harry Potter in detention, did you?" I asked.

"No, I didn't," she looked interested.

"Fred and George told me about it a couple of weeks ago, and I finally got a glimpse of it," I said.

"Got a glimpse of what?" Her eyes widened.

"He's got these bright red scars on the back of his hand, and they say 'I must not tell lies.'" Her jaw dropped. "She's got this mad quill that carves into whoever is using it, and she made him do lines with it after what he said in her class."

"That's disgusting!" She was appalled. "There's no way that Dumbledore would allow that!"

"I don't think he knows about it," I said seriously.

She shook her head, still looking horrified. "I knew she was an idiot, and a bit twisted, but…"

"I know." I shrugged. "Let's just hope that the curse on Defense Against the Dark Arts professors hasn't warn off yet. I don't know what I would do if she was here next year."

"That would be unbearable. I don't even know if I can last the rest of this year with her, to be honest."

"Oh, believe me," I replied. "I was so angry at myself for not dropping the class while I could, when saw how she was."

"We should petition," she said, and I raised my eyebrows. She blushed, but smiled. "Really! We should make an anti-Umbridge petition! I bet that everyone in the school would sign it."

"You're such a Hufflepuff," I giggled.

She crossed her arms and looked defiant, but I could tell that she wasn't actually offended. "And what ideas do you have, O brave Gryffindor?" She jumped off the desk and pantomimed taking up a sword and shield. "Go to battle with her?"

I grinned. Ivy was comedic, that was for sure. "I dunno how that would go over…"

"Oh, come on," she came over to me, still pretending to be a knight. "I guess you're just not confident in your abilities, then!"

"Of course I am!" I turned up my nose jokingly.

"Prove it," she brandished her imaginary sword at me. "A duel, to prove your mettle!" She declared.

I gave in, and jumped off the desk, grinning, while pretended to draw my own sword. "En garde, then!"

We launched into a furious battle, laughing as we jumped, lunged, twirled, and blocked.

"You'll never defeat me!" Ivy cried, after a particularly impressive dodge. She danced out of my reach, and I chased after.

"I must!" I replied. "I must, for the honor for Gryffindor!" I threw a blow, but she parried; I made it as if my sword had been knocked out of my hand, and I fell dramatically to the ground. She feigned putting to the tip of her own sword to my throat, with a triumphant smile on her face. I clasped my hands together and pretended to beg for my life.

"Please, fair maiden," I pleaded in a ridiculously high voice. Ivy stifled another laugh. "Please, oh please let me go! You've won fair and square, but must you take my life as well as the victory?"

She pretended to deliberate for a moment. "Well…I suppose I could spare you. Just this once." She threw her sword aside, and reached a hand out to me, grinning. I smiled, and took her hand so that she could pull me up.

I had never touched her hand before, and it was electrifying to have it pressed against mine. I let go quickly as soon as I was on my feet. But I wanted to hold on longer. Her skin was smooth, and her fingers shorter than mine. I looked at them out of the corner of my eye, and I could see the evidence of her habit of biting her fingernails, something I had already noticed. I found it endearing.

I didn't know what to say next, and I wasn't sure if she did, either; but we were both saved but the sound of the door banging open. I jerked my head around to see Peeves zooming in, cackling.

"Oooh, what have we here?" he asked, a malicious smile spreading across his wicked face. He had a waste paper bin, and began pelting us with its contents of crumpled-up parchment.

We ran over and grabbed our bags, using them as shields as we sped out of the room. Peeves followed, guffawing and continuing to throw the paper wads at us as we dashed down the corridor. He finally got bored after a couple of minutes, and streaked off to find another victim.

We both put our bags down, panting, and I clutched a stitch in my side. I took a few seconds to catch my breath before speaking.

"Never a dull moment, is there?"

Ivy was still breathing heavily, but she smiled. "Definitely not."

We sat in silence for another couple of minutes, until we were both breathing normally again.

Ivy looked at her watch, and frowned. "Crap…I really should be going." She looked disappointed. "I haven't started any of my homework."

I bit my lip. "Neither have I…" I felt tired already, just from thinking of how late I would probably have to be up tonight.

"We should do this again, though," she said, and a pink tinge rose on her cheeks. "You're fun. I like hanging out with you."

There it was, that golden phrase that I had wanted to hear all day. I grinned wider than I had all evening. "Really?"

She saw me smiling, and returned it with an embarrassed one of her own. "Yeah…I would really like that."

"Me too!" I was ecstatic. "Maybe sometime this week?"

She looked far off for a moment. "I have a ton of work this week…I'm sorry…" Honestly, so did I. "What about this weekend?" She asked.

Wasn't there something happening this weekend? I thought for a minute.

"The first Hogsmeade trip!" I remembered. "The first Hogsmeade trip is this Saturday."

She gave me a hopeful look. "Would you like to, maybe, go together, or something?"

"That would be great," I said happily. "Perfect, in fact."

"Great!" She smiled.

And so it was settled. We decided to meet up in the Entrance Hall Saturday morning, and then spend the day in Hogsmeade together. We went our separate ways, and I practically skipped back up to Gryffindor Tower. It didn't even bother me that we hadn't gotten any studying done…I felt that we had accomplished something much more important.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **_This chapter is twice as long as usual, and I'm not even halfway done with their trip to Hogsemeade! More adventure to come (tomorrow, because I'm too tired for any more quality writing tonight) with some IVY CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT! Aren't you all exited? I know I am._

_Anyway, just a two of quick notes before it's story time._

_First, I used a couple of direct quotes from _Order of the Phoenix _later on in the chapter, but it was only with things that characters actually needed to say. Please forgive me and don't charge me with copyright infringement. I paraphrased most of the conversation, because I figured that we all know what went on, and if you really want to know exactly what was said, you can go and read the books._

_Second, I broke canon. For the first, and hopefully only, time. The D.A. now has two additional members. Once again, please forgive me! _

_Now that I've gotten that out of the way, here's the next chapter! Please read, enjoy, and review!_

* * *

><p>The rest of the week went by in a blur; I was so excited for Saturday. There was, of course, the memorable moment the next day when I saw Fred, George, and Lee, and couldn't help but tell them that I would be going to Hogsmeade with Ivy. They congratulated me as if I had told them that we were getting married, making sure that everyone within earshot knew that little, shy, invisible Avalon was making new friends. One of these people, incidentally, had been Ivy herself, as the entire fiasco had happened in the Great Hall over lunch. I rushed to my next class, blushing hard and swearing vengeance.<p>

Luckily, nothing else so eventful happened after that. Umbridge was still being Umbridge, and still in control of that pitiful excuse for a class. I was finally getting better at non-verbal spells, after a month of nearly continuous practice. And I passed Ivy in the corridors a few times. We were always moving, and didn't have time to stop and chat, but she made sure to smile at me and wave, and I always returned with a smile of my own.

At dinner Friday night, I didn't pay an ounce of attention to what I was eating, due to the fact that I was busy thinking of what to do with Ivy the next day. I didn't want something boring; I figured she had probably been to the Three Broomsticks and Zonko's a million times. I tried to think of other places where we could go. Madame Pudifoot's was always full of snogging couples, and I tended to avoid it at all costs. The Shrieking Shack was just downright terrifying, so that was out. And the Hog's Head was a bit dodgy for my taste.

"Hey, Av," said Fred, sitting down across from me, and George slid in next to him. He looked strangely serious, and scanned the table up and down before speaking again. "Could you meet us in the Hog's Head tomorrow?"

I looked at him, confused. "But I'm going to be with Ivy, and…the Hog's Head? Why?"

"Look, she can come too, if you want," George said, also being quiet. "But it's important, okay?"

I raised my eyebrows, but was interested. "What's going on?"

"We were just talking to Hermione Granger," he replied—

"And she was telling us," Fred continued—

"That there's going to be a meeting there tomorrow."

"With Harry Potter."

"Some sort of anti-Umbridge club."

"A secret club?" I asked. It definitely sounded interesting, all right.

"Well, the old hag wouldn't be too happy if she found out, now would she?" George replied.

I smiled. "It sounds exciting. I guess I can come."

"Excellent," said Fred, standing up. "See you at noon in the Hog's Head. And bring your new friend. The more, the merrier."

The two of them traipsed out of the Hall, and I finished off my dinner. _At least now I had one thing to do with Ivy tomorrow_, I thought, exiting the Hall as well.

* * *

><p>At ten o'clock the next morning, I was bundled up and waiting in the Entrance Hall for Ivy to arrive. I kept an eye on the staircase that I knew led to both the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room, and Ivy crossed through it after only a couple of minutes. She came over to me, smiling.<p>

"Fancy meeting you here," she greeted.

"Same for you," I smiled back, trying to figure out a tactful way of telling her about going to the Hog's Head later. I wanted to get it out of the way now, but I also didn't want to make her feel like I was eager to go off and do things with other people.

"So," She said, before I had a chance to do anything. "Shall we go?"

"Sure," I nodded, and we left through the oak front doors. It was rather chilly, despite only being early October. Ivy pulled out a yellow-and-black striped hat and put it over her cropped hair, while I was silently thankful that I had thought to wear a scarf that day.

"A bit crisp isn't it?" she commented. "We should go somewhere inside."

I nodded in agreement, and took my chance. "Last night, at dinner, my friends Fred and George invited me—well, us—to the Hog's Head at around noon today. They said something about Harry Potter making a club…?"

I looked over, to gauge her reaction. "Is it going to just be a bunch of Gryffindors…?" She asked, and I could tell that she was nervous about being left out. I certainly knew the feeling.

"I don't know," I said, truthfully. "But maybe not. We don't have to go if you don't want to." I gave a half smile, hoping that I didn't sound passive-aggressive.

"Maybe we could go for a little while?" She said, smiling a bit too. "It sounds like something that could be fun."

"George had said something about it being anti-Umbridge," I replied, trying to win her over.

She smiled wider. "I'm interested, then."

For the rest of the way to Hogsmeade, we continued on a conversation of bashing Umbridge, and were both in good spirits when we reached the Village.

"Were should we go first?" I asked. We still had some time before we needed to be at the Hog's Head.

"What about Honeydukes?" she suggested. "I haven't been there since last year, and I need to stock up on Sugar Quills."

"I'm up for that," I replied. Honeydukes was a staple of any Hogsmeade visit, regardless of how many times you've been there before.

We walked up the Main Street until we reached the sweets shop, and slipped inside.

It was warm, welcoming, and packed with students, as usual. Ivy and I spent an enjoyable hour there, taking samples of the candy and daring each other to try some of the more the outlandish products (such as "Gnat Gut Nougat, Made with Real Gants!") We both ran into a few people that we knew; Ivy introduced me to her Ravenclaw friend, Beth, who was rather loud, and I saw Katie and Alicia there together. By the time we had both decided what we wanted and made our purchases, it was a few minutes before noon.

"Well," said Ivy, checking her watch. "It looks like it's about time to go meet up with everyone, isn't it?" She seemed a lot more cheerful about the idea now than when I had introduced it.

"Let's go," I said, and we went back out into the cold. I had a vague idea of where the Hog's Head was; I knew that it would be on one of the side streets. We walked around for a few minutes before we finally saw it. It didn't look all that appealing. The windows were dingy, and there was a wooden sign hanging over the door that depicted a severed boar's head on a table.

"Lovely," Ivy raised her eyebrows. "Any idea why they wanted to meet in a place like this?"

"Probably because it was less crowded than the Three Broomsticks," said a voice from behind us, and I turned to see the Lee and the twins walking up the street, loaded down with bags of Zonko's merchandise.

They stopped when they were next to us, and I could see a few more people making their way up the street in our direction. I assumed that they had been invited to this mystery meeting, too.

"So you must be Miss Ivy," Fred continued, shaking her hand jovially. "Pleasure to meet our little girl's newest friend. I'm George Weasley, and this is my talented, wonderful, handsome brother Fred, who anyone in the world would want to be." He pointed to George, who rolled his eyes.

I giggled. "Don't confuse her like that." I turned to Ivy. "That one is Fred," I pointed to the real Fred. "And that one is George." I pointed to the real George. "And this is Lee." I didn't feel like there was a need to point him out, seeing as he wasn't identical to anyone, and thus not easily confused.

She smiled back at them, deciding just to go with it. "Nice to meet you."

By this time, a small crowd had gathered outside of the pub, and we decided to let ourselves in.

Upon entering, it was obvious why students didn't venture here too often. It was small, dark, grimy, dusty, and smelled like goat stool. I wrinkled my nose. "Quaint."

Lee was the only one who heard me, but he chuckled.

I noticed that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were already waiting there, and I followed Fred up to the bar, where he was buying drinks for everyone in the party. About twenty-five people had come in after us.

"Cheers," said Fred, passing out the grimy bottles. "Cough up, everyone, I haven't got enough gold for all of these…"

I passed him two Sickles, and when Ivy had done the same we moved away and took a seat in a couple of chairs.

"Looks like it's not just Gryffindors," I commented, seeing a mix of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws, as well as members of my own house.

"Yeah," she said, looking around too. "Did you know this many people would turn up?" I shook my head, beginning to feel uncomfortable around so many unfamiliar faces.

The twins and Lee came and took seats next to us, and were about to start showing me what they had bought in Zonko's; but before they could, Hermione Granger called the meeting to order.

"Er…Well—er—hi." She said in a slightly higher voice than she would have usually used. Evidently, she hadn't been prepared to be speaking in front of so many people. "Well…erm…well, you know why you're here. Erm…well, Harry here had the idea—I mean—I had the idea—that it might be good if people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts—" She continued on for another minute or two still stuttering at first, but getting more confident as people began showing that they cared about what she was saying. I listened attentively, and was very happy to hear her criticisms of Umbridge. Her speech came to a close, and she took a deep breath and finished, with the bomb shell statement: "Lord Voldemort's back."

I just about choked on my butterbeer at this, and Ivy's eyes widened in fear. All around the room, people were recovering from the shock of hearing the name.

I listened on the edge of my seat to the ensuing conversation…Maybe now Harry would tell the truth of what had gone on in the maze last year? He got close to the subject, but didn't tell the crowd of students as much as they wanted to know. I of course had an idea of what had happened, because of what Fred and George had told me, and from my habit of sometimes eavesdropping in the common room at night.

I could tell that Ivy wanted to know more, but was also rather upset by the topic; I remembered that Cedric had been in her house. It must have been really hard for her, too. Everyone had loved him.

It was established that we were going to make a Defense Against the Dark Arts club, to learn what Umbridge wasn't teaching us. It only seemed natural. Under the current circumstances, we would need to know everything we could about defending ourselves.

The conversation turned to less interesting things, such as where we were going to meet, and when. Finally, a sign-up sheet was passed around, and Ivy and I both put our names down. I hoped that the first meeting would be soon. I looked over at her, but her expression wasn't readable.

When everyone had signed, people began standing up and getting ready to leave.

"Well, time's ticking on…George, Lee, and I have got items of a sensitive nature to purchase, so we'll be seeing you later." Fred said, and ruffled my hair as he made his way out. I said goodbye to the three of them, but was distracted by Ivy. She still looked thoughtful, as she put her hat back on and gathered up her bag.

"Ready to go?" I asked, wondering if she was alright,

"Oh—yeah. Yeah, let's go."

And with that, we exited the Hog's Head.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: **_Sorry this took me a couple of days to update. I went to the MoMA, which was awesome, but I also have the worst cold ever, and I pretty much needed a day off to go cuddle with my girlfriend and be taken care of. Still feel sick and gross, but I wanted to update :)_

_Also, I went through the last few chapters and fixed a few of the grammar/spelling errors that had been pointed out to me. I think I got them all. This one, I know, is error-free!_

_Enjoy & Drop me some feedback!_

* * *

><p>We ambled back up to the Main Street, and I tried to break the silence that had fallen between us.<p>

"This whole defense thing sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?" I smiled. "Learning how to duel, and make Patruonuses and stuff…"

"Yeah…cool," Ivy replied, with a faraway look. She was quiet for a few seconds, before saying suddenly: "So I guess it's really true, isn't it? He's back?"

I sighed. So this is what she had been thinking about. "Yeah, I suppose he is."

She looked down. "It didn't seem real before. I was afraid of it, but I didn't want it to be true…" She shook her head. "But I'll just have to believe it now, won't I?"

I bit my lip, not knowing what to say to this. I didn't like having this conversation with anyone, and I wanted to change the subject. At the same time, I wondered how upset Ivy was about this. I wondered if she had anyone to talk to about it.

"Let's sit down somewhere," I said, finally. I spotted a bench outside of one of the shops, and pointed to it. "How about there?"

"Sure," she agreed, glancing over.

We took out seats, with a bit of space between us. She still wasn't talking, and I decided that I would have to be the one to break the silence again.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked. It was the only thing that came to mind.

"About what?" She replied, looking over at me.

"About…whatever you're thinking. Whatever is bothering you." I paused for a second, but decided to go on with what I wanted to say. "I know Cedric was in your house. That can't have been easy."

She seemed to visibly deflate, and looked away again. "I'm fine, now."

"But you weren't, after it happened, were you?" I knew how she felt, not being able to talk about something that was scary, or upsetting. I knew how much better she would feel once she got it off of her chest. And I wanted to get the smiling, happy Ivy back as soon as possible.

She took a little while before responding. "Everyone in our house was devastated last year." I waited quietly, letting her continue at her own pace. "Hufflepuff never gets any of the glory. We were all so proud when Cedric got chosen for the Tournament. And he was tied for the lead!" She sighed, looking a bit bitter. I was thankful that she wasn't like some others that I had talked to, who blamed Harry, and all of Gryffindor, for stealing the limelight. Or, at least, if she did feel that way, she didn't say anything. "We all thought that he had a shot of winning. Everyone was really excited."

She stopped and took a deep breath. "And then Harry Potter came back, and he had Cedric's body…" I shuddered, remembering, too. "I don't think I could ever forget that image, of Harry, covered in blood, and Cedric, dead. I still have nightmares about that." She admitted. "And I was scared to death, since Dumbledore was telling us that it had been You-Know-Who." Her voice cracked. "I don't know what to do, if he's back! I'm a Muggle-born!"

She looked at me, wide-eyed, and I decided that I could speak again. I tried to choose my words carefully. "I'm a Half-Blood, and my family would be in danger, too, if he were back." I tried my hardest to sound reassuring, rather than giving the impression that I was trying to one-up her. I moved a bit closer to her. "Did you tell your parents about what happened?"

She shook her head. "They knew something was up. I was really nervous and quiet…" She trailed off, and I got the impression that there was more to this part of the story. She didn't seem to want to talk about it, though. "If I had told them, I know that they wouldn't have let me come back to Hogwarts this year. They're really protective."

"Have you talked to anyone, since what happened?" I asked.

"No." She finally looked at me again. "Not until just now."

I hesitantly put my arm around her shoulders, and to my surprise, she didn't pull away; rather, she leaned into me. I would have blushed, if my cheeks weren't already red from the cold. But I tried to keep my voice normal. "I'm here, if you ever need me."

She gave me a hint of a smile. "Thanks, Avalon. But I think I'll be alright for now."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." She smiled a little wider. "Want to go get some hot chocolate or something?"

"That sounds nice," I smiled back at her.

However, we stayed sitting for a few more seconds, my arm around her shoulder, and her head leaning against me. It felt nice. Comforting. Until a couple of Slytherin girls walked past, staring at us. We jumped apart to opposite sides of the bench, and I felt as if my face was on fire.

I stood up, not able to meet her eyes. "Er…hot chocolate, then?"

"S-sure," she stammered, standing up, too. We walked to the Three Broomsticks, looking in opposite directions.

Luckily, we were able to salvage a conversation when we sat down with our cocoa, and we stayed in our cozy little window seat for a couple of hours. We talked about happier things, and slowly the funny, cheerful Ivy returned. I found out that she had a younger brother whom they had found out was also a wizard, and that he would be coming to Hogwarts in two years. She was very amused when she realized that I knew more about the Muggle world than she had assumed, and it was fun to be able to talk about things such as our favorite Television shows, as well as more magical topics. I spent a quarter of an hour ranting to her about my favorite Quidditch team, the Hollyhead Harpies, whom she had heard of, but didn't know much about. We then launched into a playful argument about which band was better: she tried to convince me that some American Muggle group, the Indigo Girls, were great, while I firmly stood by the fact that no one could be better than the Weird Sisters. Eventually, we decided that it was about time to go back to the castle.

We made our way down the road, pulling our cloaks a bit tighter around ourselves as the sun began to set. I found myself wishing that I could be close to her again; as we had been on the bench…_she was so warm_…

I pushed the notion away. What on earth was I thinking?

We got back to school, and stopped in the Entrance Hall.

"That was really nice," she told me, smiling. "I had a great time."

"I did, too." I replied. "Thanks for coming."

"Thank _you_ for inviting me." She winked. "And I can't wait for that club."

"Neither can I!" I smiled. "I'll let you know when the first meeting is, as soon as I find out."

"Great," she said. "I hope it's soon."

"I'm sure it will be." I was excited. Not only because I loved the idea of learning defense while defying Umbridge, but also because I knew that Ivy would be there.

"I'll see you soon, then," she gave me one final smile.

"Yeah, see you," I smiled too, and gave a small wave as she walked away.

When I got to Gryffindor tower, I bypassed the common room and went straight to my dormitory, wanting to be alone for a little while. However, when I opened the door, there was already someone there.

"Hi, Katie," I said. She looked over at me from where she was on her bed, and gave me a small, nervous smile.

"Hey…" She sat up, fiddling with a thread on the sleeve of her sweater.

"What's going?" There was obviously something that had happened.

She looked at the door behind me, making sure that we were alone. "Can you keep a secret? A really big secret?"

I sat across from her, at the foot of the bed. "Of course. Anything."

"Pinkie Swear?" She held out her pinkie finger, just like we had done when we were little. I knew that this must be something important as I wrapped my pinkie around hers.

"I promise."

She took a deep breath. "Alicia and I…after the meeting today…we were just walking around Hogsmeade, and we were down one of those side streets and…

"She kissed me, Avalon! She kissed me, and it was amazing!" Her face went completely red, and she couldn't meet my eye. "I've liked her for a long time."

"Are you two a couple now, then?" I asked. I had been wondering about the two of them for a while, but Katie hadn't said anything, and I hadn't asked.

"I think so," she looked up at me. "You probably think I'm weird, right? I'm sure everyone else would, if they knew."

"I don't think you're weird at all!" I meant it. "I'm happy for you!"

She smiled, still a bit nervous. "Really?"

"Really," I said, and beamed at her. "You have to tell me everything!"

She blushed deeper. "Everything?"

"Yes! The whole story."

She smiled, and told me. Everything that I had inferred about her relationship with Alicia turned out to be true, and I was quite proud of myself. I was also happy for her. I was glad that she had found someone to love, and I told her as much. She apologized for not telling me sooner. She said that she would have, but she wasn't sure how I would react.

I could forgive her. I could easily forgive her, because right then, as I listened to Katie describe her feelings for another girl, my own confused thoughts about Ivy began parading through my head. And I knew that I could never tell a soul about how I felt.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **_It's true. I ship Katie and Alicia so hard. Did you like that little twist?_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **_This one is a bit short, I know. The next one will be longer._

_I channeled a bit of Sassy Gay Friend towards the second half here. All I could think when I wrote this was "Slow down, crazy. Slow down."_

_And I used a couple more direct Quotes from OotP, but I tried to not use it as a crutch and integrate it into the story._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

><p>On Monday morning, I came down the stairs from the dormitories to find a crowd of students around the notice board in the common room. There was a large sign covering up everything else, and I found an opening in the mass of students that gave me a vantage point from which to read it:<p>

**Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four**

_By Order of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts—_

_All Student Organizations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded._

_An Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students._

_Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge)._

_No Student Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor._

_Any student found to have formed, or belong to, an Organization, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled._

_The above is in accordance with Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four._

_Signed: Dolores Jane Umbridge, High Inquisitor_

My jaw dropped. _She __knew!_ But how was that even possible? She definitely hadn't been in the Hog's Head, and I didn't want to think that anyone had told her. I felt the twins come up behind me and read the notice.

"No way," George said, in disbelief.

I turned to him. "Who do you think told her?"

He shook his head. "It's anyone's guess. Although if you ask me, it was that Smith kid. He was a complete arse, wasn't he?"

"Let's go find Harry," Fred suggested. "We'll ask him what's going on."

George and I agreed, and we hurried down to the Great Hall. Once there, the scene was even more chaotic than usual. Students were running back and forth between the House tables conferring about the news. I saw Ivy about halfway down the Hufflepuff table. We made eye contact, and I mouthed _I__'__ll __tell __you __in __a __minute!_, pointing to Harry. She nodded.

We hurried over to the Gryffindor table and were joined by Neville Longbottom, Dean Thomas, and the twins' sister, Ginny as we approached Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Did you see it?"

"D'you reckon she knows?"

"What are we going to do?"

We all looked expectantly at Harry, who looked around before answering quietly. "We're going to do it anyway, of course."

"Knew you'd say that," George grinned.

I nodded, and watched as Hermione got very upset as a few members from our meeting from other houses started to come over to the Gryffindor table. She shooed them away, not wanting to look suspicious. I bit my lip, looking over at Ivy. I didn't want anyone to suspect that something was going on, but at the same time, there were students running left and right. One more Gryffindor probably wouldn't be noticed.

"I'll be back in a minute," I said to no one in particular, and hurried over to where Ivy was. I took a seat next to her, feeling very out of place at the Hufflepuff table.

"What's going on?" She asked, in a hushed voice. She looked worried.

"Harry says that we're still doing it. But it has to be a secret."

She nodded. "Did he say when?"She asked, and offered me a piece of toast.

I took it, and had a bite before answering. "No, he didn't…But I'm sure it will be soon. I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything."

"Alright," She replied. "Does anyone have an idea of how Umbridge found out?"

"None whatsoever," I replied. "I don't know if someone told her, or what."

She glanced around nervously. "I don't think anyone there would have told."

"Neither do I," I agreed. "But what else could have happened?"

She shrugged. We sat in silence for a minute, thinking. I finished my toast and took another piece. Finally Ivy stood up, swinging her bag over her shoulder.

"I better be going…my first class starts soon."

"Okay," I replied, standing up too. "I should probably go, too."

We walked out of the Hall together, and up the marble staircase. I was very aware of her presence next to me, especially after my conversation with Katie on Saturday night and the ensuing thoughts on Sunday.

We got to the Charms corridor. "Well, see you later, then." She said, attempting a smile, although I could tell that she was still nervous.

"Yeah…see you."

And then, something very odd happened. She blushed and gave me a quick hug, before turning around and hurrying to her classroom. I stayed rooted to the spot, happily stunned and confused. _What __the __hell __was __that __about?_

* * *

><p><em>Ivy.<em>

This was the only thought in my head that day. I thought about the way that she smiled at me. I thought about how comfortable I felt around her. I thought about how sad I was every time she had to leave.

She was funny. The twins could make me laugh, but not like her. There was something different. Something about her that I really liked…and wanted more of.

She was cute. More than cute. Attractive. I wanted to be close to her, to hold her and touch her and have her hands all over me—

_Stop._The voice in my head was firm. _Just __stop.__This __is __mad. __You__'__ve __known __her __for __a __week __and __a __half. __There__'__s __no __way __that __you __could __be __falling __in __love __with __her. __There__'__s __no __way __that __you __could __like __her __more __than __a __friend. __You __don__'__t __even __like __girls __that __way! __Remember __when __you __kissed __George, __at __the __Yule __Ball?_

Of course I remembered kissing George at the Yule Ball. He couldn't find a date, and neither could I, so we went together. It was just a casual…or so I thought. Most of the night was a blur, but I know that after a couple of fire whiskeys, George and I had ended up on one of the secluded benches in the garden. _And __wasn__'__t __it __great?_

No. It wasn't a horrible experience, but it wasn't what I had been expecting. And it had been hard to wake up the next morning and try to explain to him that this did not make us a couple. He's been careful around me ever since, as if he regrets it. And I would never tell him, but I regret it, too.

_And __something __like __that __would __ruin __your __friendship __with __Ivy, __too!_

Why was I so good at arguing? Why could I always find a way to refute a point?

I was right. Regardless of how I felt, I couldn't tell Ivy, and I couldn't act on it. She probably would never speak to me again. It was a miracle that George and I were still friends, and our situation wasn't even half as bad as where I would be if I kissed Ivy. There's no way that she could feel the same.

Or could she?

_No. __Just __because __you __want __her __to, __does __not __mean __that __she __does._

I sighed. I knew that Ivy would never fall for me, but at that moment, I still wanted her to...more than anything.


End file.
